Bulletproof titanium
by madamsimple
Summary: [Pitch Perfect AU] Arya moves to the Barden University campus. By the end of her first hour there, she has met someone who will change her life. By the end of her first day there, she has slapped one of the most popular people in the campus. By the end of her first week there, she has already joined an a capella group.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi there! Here's another Gendry/Arya fic, but this time it's definitely not an oneshot! This fic is a Modern AU based in the plot of the movie Pitch Perfect, with Arya in the paper of Becca and Gendry in Jesse's (and by that the only thing I mean is that they're the protagonists). Nonetheless, obviously, the story won't be exactly the same, but I do plan on keeping some of its awesome scenes. I'll try my best to keep them in character, but I apologize in advance if some of the secondary characters aren't. This chapter's more like an introduction but from here on, I promise it will be a lot funnier! And please, remember that English is not my first language, so there will possibly be some typos. Enjoy!**

**ARYA.**

Arya could already see the campus through the cab's window; it was incredibly big, full of shops and buildings, just like a city. She had just moved from Alaska to Georgia, so she still wasn't used to its climate. The sweat, the excitement, the wonder and the slight pressure she felt made her a little dizzy. _My new University…_, she thought while sighing to herself, _Am I supposed not to get lost on this huge ass campus?_

The taxi parked right between two exactly identical ones. Arya massaged her temples before getting out of the cab and grabbing her luggage from the trunk. She paid the driver and started making her way to the dorms slowly, while gazing at her surroundings, still amazed by the hugeness of it all. But her astonishment disappeared the moment she realized that the people around her made so much noise she couldn't even hear the song playing in her headphones –_It's time _by Imagine Dragons – she normally listened to indie songs, but she also liked 2000-ish ones, because they reminded her of her brothers. She could have handled anything else, but, extremely noisy university students? _Are you fucking kidding me?_ She cursed inside her head.

Arya tried to steer through the crowd. The suitcases got kicked several times and she could already see some bruises over they garnet colored surface. Her mood was getting worse with each passing second. Then, when she had reached the end of the crowd, she was glancing at behind her and something got in her way.

She stumbled against it and fell backwards; Arya could have avoided the fall if it weren't for one of her suitcases, which was standing right behind her feet and eliminated any chance to land with relative dignity, so she ended up falling on her butt to the ground. She groaned while rubbing the area that had hit the floor, and when she opened her eyes she saw two things: the streetlight that had caused the accident and a guy just a few feet from her, who had most likely seen everything. Arya's fears where proved true when he started laughing at her like a maniac. She frowned, clearly annoyed by the boy's shrieks of laughter. Noticing the expression on her face, he tried to stop laughing and walked over her, offering a helping hand once he was standing before her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh at-…" that's all he could say before Arya slapped his hand fiercely.

She stood up, shook the dust off her back, put on her headphones again, grabbed her suitcases and walked away, only facing back to flip him off. His eyes widened for a moment before he started cackling again, which made her grow even more annoyed.

_What the fuck is wrong with the people in this campus?_

* * *

After a long and stressful journey, Arya reached her room in the dorms, and no one could know how grateful she was for it. The room was divided in two sides: one of which was already decorated rather extravagantly, the other one was totally plain. There was a girl on the eccentric bed – which was decorated by several and plenty colorful cushions, and she was sitting atop of all of them – typing happily on her iMac's keyboard. Suddenly, a thunderous sound made the room's walls tremble. Arya's first reaction was to bring her hands to her ears in order to protect them from all the noise and she couldn't help slightly grimacing. The other girl seemed to realize that the volume was perhaps a little too high and Arya could see how she muttered something – she obviously couldn't hear what she was saying – before lowering the volume. The song that was playing was _Call me maybe _by Carly Rae Jepsen. She sighed in relief while her roommate – a tall, beautiful, lightly dressed redhead – approached her with a wide grin on her lips.

"You must be Arya Stark, right?" she asked at the same time she shook her hand vividly.

"Yup…" Arya answered, scratching the back of her neck and smiling awkwardly. "And you are…?"

"Ros." The redhead leaned in and hugged the poor little Stark, who was feeling more awkward than she ever had. "I'll help you"

They grabbed her suitcases and put them over her plainly white-sheeted bed. Ros seemed to pay special attention to one of them, which was shaped with the form of a particular musical instrument.

"So… you can play the acoustic guitar?" her eyes gleamed with curiosity, Arya nodded in response.

"The electric too, but I don't own one," she smiled shyly to herself. "... yet."

They heard somebody knocking at the door; Ros went to receive whoever it was while Arya unpacked her belongings. She heard a very familiar voice saying "Ros! Is this my sister's room?"

Arya turned around abruptly, searching with her eyes that sweet voice's owner. She wasn't surprised when she saw Sansa peeking over Ros's shoulders and grinning when she caught sight of her little sister.

"Arya!" Sansa cried out as she dodged Arya's roommate and ran through the door towards her, with her arms wide opened.

"… No." she warned her, holding up her hands to prevent her older sister from hugging her. "I think I've had enough hugs for today, thanks." she grimaced again, which didn't seem to please Sansa at all.

"How was the trip towards here?" the blue eyed girl forced a smile, but Arya could read the apathy in her eyes.

"Boring." Arya had gone back to unpacking her things but she could almost feel how her sister rolled her eyes at her articulated answer. "Mom, dad and our bros send their regards." Sansa winced slightly when Arya used the word 'bros'.

"Hum, seriously? And what did they say?" she was playing with her own fingers nervously. Arya sighed before turning around again.

"Sansa… What do you want?" she stood idly while awaiting her sister's answer. Ros looked at the blue eyed girl and smiled coyly. "Come on, I've known you for eighteen years already, at this point you can't fool me anymore. Spit it."

"Look, I know you just arrived and you don't even know the activities this university can offer you, but I really need to ask you a little favor…" she tried to laugh but it turned out to be more of a sight. Arya raised one of her eyebrows, standing still with her arms crossed. "See, I'm in this a capella group, _The Barden Bellas, _and four of our former members graduated the last year so we obviously need four new members to replace them… And I thought, you know, you sing pretty well and you can read music sheets and this Saturday at nine o'clock we're holding the auditions…"

"And you want me to try out." Sansa pulled out her most efficient trick: the puppy eyes. It was Arya's turn to roll her eyes. "Okay, okay, but you must leave right now. I'm too tired to deal with your pheromones right now." Her blue eyed sister tried to hug her again, but Arya dodged it once more.

* * *

Arya stepped inside the pub with some uncertainty. Back home, she had been searching for a place she could work in, because she felt a little bad for her parents who must have to pay a lot of money for her to live in such campus and study in such University. Besides, she had always been very proud and felt that letting them pay for everything stained her pride deeply.

She had found a pub called _Valar Morghulis_ which sought an entertainer of any type. Arya had emailed the establishment's owner, a man called Jaqen H'gar; she had sent him some of the covers she had recorded and he had asked her to pay him a visit when she arrived in order to sign the contract.

The place wasn't as bad as she had imagined – you can't really imagine anything good with such a name -, it obviously lacked some lighting and she couldn't really appreciate the decoration in the darkness.

Arya saw a man standing behind pub's bar and approached him awkwardly.

"Excuse me," she said after clearing her throat. "do you know where Jaqen H'gar is?" she wasn't really sure if she had pronounced the name correctly.

"A man is standing right in front of a girl." Arya recognized that strange third-person-speech immediately. Thought she had imagined he would be a rather weird person, his hair, which was dyed in bright red and white, caught her by surprise. "A man supposes a girl's name is Arya Stark, right?"

She nodded and shook his hand nervously. Jaqen put the glass he was washing down and opened a drawer to take Arya's contract and a pen out. She grabbed them and proceeded to sign it – she had read it at home, when he had sent her an identical copy by email.

"A girl will start working this weekend." He said calmly as he grabbed another glass and started to wash it as well. "A girl will be able to sing any song she wants as long as she has prepared it previously. A man will lend a girl his electric guitar whenever she needs it whilst she asks for it in advance."

Arya liked that last statement; having an acoustic guitar and being able to borrow an electric one whenever she needed it, she would be able to sing almost any song she wanted to.

_Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought_.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's the second chapter! I forgot to say that there will be chapters with more than one pov (even thought it'll mostly be only Gendry's and Arya's), I hope it doesn't displease you, but it's the only way to explore this story completely. I don't intend on keeping all the songs that appear in the film, but I'll surely sneak a few of them as little references. Please, remember that English is not my first language and there could be some typos. Second A/N at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!**

**ARYA.**

Her dad was very right when he said that Arya wasn't a person who one could befriend easily. He also said the truth when he stated that she had too little patience and was a tad too aggressive whenever she felt like she was being threatened or made fun of. Arya had never agreed with her father's words, telling him that if she wanted, she could have great levels of self-control. But Friday had come and she had to admit – to herself, never to his dad, that'd obviously be a big blow for her pride – that _maybe_, just _maybe_, he was right.

That Monday had been her first day in the University, and she hadn't started precisely making friends. When she entered her class in order to have the first period, she saw how a group of girls were chatting naturally outside classroom, but when they spotted her they started whispering and stealing glances her way. At first she tried to let it go, however, one of them approached her – another redhead; Arya wondered how could there be so many redheads in that University-, followed by all the others.

"Hi!" Arya didn't greet her back, pretending she hadn't heard her over her headphones, but then that redheaded girl pulled them from her ears. "I said hi, are you deaf or something?" Arya glared at her, but she chose to ignore it and smirk. "My name is Melisandre. You must be Arya Stark, right?" the dark haired girl sighed.

"How come everyone here knows who I am, when I don't know anybody?" she complained while she placed her textbooks and notebook over the table. Melisandre smiled nonchalantly before lowering her gaze to Arya's table and brushing it with her fingers.

"I just heard people talking about Sansa Stark's little sister, who was going to join the University this year. Didn't expect you to be a tomboy, thought…" Arya glared at her once again. "Not that I don't like that, at least you don't seem to be a toady, unlike your nasty sister…"

It only took between two and three seconds for Arya to slap her in the face. All the other girls surrounding them winced noisily, approaching Melisandre and asking her if she was okay while glancing fearfully at Arya. She packed her things again, grabbed her backpack and made her way towards the door, deciding that the first period wasn't interesting enough to stay. Before getting out, she turned her head and said menacingly:

"I'm the only one who can insult my sister, bitch."

Obviously, the next day she was sent to the principal's office, where Robert Baratheon – long time friend of his father – had tried to scold her for what she did, but failed miserably, for he couldn't even stop laughing and saying how little she had changed with the years. When she got out of there and marched directly to her class, she noticed how everyone looked at her strangely.

And that's why she had to agree slightly with his father's words about her a-little-too-fierce personality; she hadn't even made a single friend yet. She was thinking about this while walking through the corridors that morning. She reached her locker and grabbed the books she needed, as well as a packet of Kleenex.

"Oh shit, I forgot the tissues." she heard someone curse at the other side of her locker's door.

Arya closed it and looked at the boy who owned the locker next to hers. He was holding a big – but already almost finished – sandwich and his hands where stained in processed cheese and oil. She took one of her Kleenex and handed it to him, earning a surprised grin from the boy. He finished the last piece of sandwich and whipped his hands eagerly.

"Thanks! OH FU-…" he cussed when he realized who she was. Arya raised one of her eyebrows, pissed by his reaction and expecting him to run away or something. The boy just pointed at her before saying anything. "You're the chick who bitch-slapped Melisandre Asshai, right?" she nodded, half glaring at him. "Woah, that's awesome!"

She certainly wasn't expecting that kind of response.

"Is it?" she asked, partly confused, partly amused.

"'Course! Well done." Arya couldn't believe what she was hearing. "She totally had it coming. I've been only one week here and she has already given me a nickname."

"Which nickname?"

"_Hot Pie_. She said it must be the only thing I eat, given my weight." He rolled his eyes. "Hot pies are surely a hundred times more delicious than any of those low calorie protein bars she feeds on." She chuckled and surprised herself not feeling awkward when they felt silent while they walked together towards their class.

"By the way, I'm Arya Stark" she said for the first time after arriving to the campus. Arya opened the door and they came in.

"You can just call me Hot Pie, seeing that I won't feel ashamed for my love for food." She smiled and sat comfortably in one of the desks, proud of herself for having finally made a friend.

* * *

It was already Saturday night, concretely 8:00 PM. She took her guitar and the music sheets – everyone who auditioned had to sing the same song; this year it was _Stronger_ by Kelly Clarkson - and headed to the University's theatre, the place where the auditions were going to be held.

When she arrived there was absolutely no one there. She looked around, looked for her sister or Ros or anyone but the place was completely empty. After ten minutes of searching everywhere, Arya just shrugged her shoulders and made her way to Valar Morghulis.

It was her first day at work and she was thirty minutes early. She felt unusually anxious; she could even see how her hands were shaking. Arya had played and sang for other people before, she even uploaded some of her covers to Youtube, but she had never sung, like, _professionally_ for an audience. She approached the bar and sat on one of the stools.

"Nervous, right?" Jaqen appeared from nowhere, which almost made her jump from her seat.

"Uh huh, not at all." She tried to act cool but Jaqen's smirk told her that she was failing miserably.

Surprisingly, the pub was pretty full, unlike the day she had come to sign the contract. That made her feel even more uneasy. At that moment, the doors opened and she saw her sister coming in, followed by some other girls, Ros being one of them. When Sansa saw her, she almost started running towards her.

"Where were you this morning? We waited, like, half an hour for you but you didn't even show up!" she seemed almost angry.

"What? When I went to the auditions there was no-…" Arya frowned. "Wait, did you just say _morning_? … Shit." Sansa sighed and crossed her arms.

"You went there at 9 PM, didn't you?" she untangled one of her arms and massaged the bridge of her nose before she continued talking. "Well we still need one member more and let me tell you, if we end up having no other choice but to accept Melisandre, it will be your fault!" Arya chuckled at the mention of that name, pitying them for a second. Jaqen mimicked for her to look at the watch, warning her that she should start getting ready. Arya nodded at him.

"Well, Sansa, that's not my problem." She said as she grabbed her guitar's case and stood up. "You asked me for a favor and I tried to help but it seems the odds didn't want me to audition. What a pity…" she heard someone chuckling behind her sister. It was a tall, hazel eyed brunette who she still did not know, so she paid no attention to her and ran across the pub towards the stage.

* * *

Arya would have sworn that from the stage, the pub looked at least three times larger than it actually was. She could feel her heart pumping fiercely inside her chest as she placed a stool right in the middle of the platform. She also dragged the microphone until it was in front of her seat and adjusted it to her height before opening the case and taking her guitar, her grip on it being very stronger than usual. Then she stood right in front of the mic.

"Hello everyone." Arya felt goosebumps running all over her back when almost every single person in the pub turned around to face the stage. "My name's Arya Stark and I'm the new performer." She felt a bit encouraged when the audience started clapping and whistling at her. "The first song I'll play is a mix of two different tracks, I hope you enjoy it."

Arya had been all the week thinking about what happened that Monday and how people had reacted to it, and it made her feel pretty furious. That's why she had chosen a song that would fit a little bit with her feelings. She scanned the crowd with her eyes until she found a specific redhead; luckily enough, Melisandre was there to hear what Arya had to say about her attempt to make her feel like shit. The little dark haired girl drank a little sip of water and cleared her throat –without looking away from Melisandre; she felt how her own blood started boiling with rage and shot her a challenging glare - before starting.

_You shout it out_

_But I can't hear a word you say_

_I'm talking loud not saying much_

_I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet_

_You shoot me down, but I get up_

_This time, baby, I'll be_

_Bulletproof_

_This time, baby, I'll be_

_Bulletproof_

_I'm bulletproof nothing to lose_

_Fire away, fire away_

_Ricochet, you take your aim_

_Fire away, fire away_

_You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium_

_You shoot me down but I won't fall_

_I am titanium_

_I won't let you turn around_

_And tell me now I'm much too proud_

_To walk away from something when it's dead_

_Do, do, do your dirty words_

_Come out to play when you are hurt_

_There's certain things that should be left unsaid_

_Cut me down_

_But it's you who has further to fall_

_Ghost town, haunted love_

_Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones_

_I'm talking loud not saying much_

_You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium_

_You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium_

_You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium_

_You shoot me down but I won't fall, I am titanium_

_I am titanium_

Arya took a deep breath, feeling how all the muscles in her body relaxed. She had sung all the song while looking at the redhead, who had now disappeared inside the crowd. Everyone clapped, whistled or screamed, and Arya couldn't help feeling proud for it; she had spent quite a few of sleep hours writing and engaging the mix, making an acoustic guitar version for it, and in that moment she felt it had been worth it. Arya sung a few songs more – the original version of each, she had decided that she would only sing one mix every week - until eleven o'clock before leaving the stage. At the moment she stepped out of the scenery, her sister and her friends surrounded her, seemingly very excited.

"Arya, good news!" Sansa cried out while clapping her hands. "Margaery liked your performance so much that she says we can make and exception and let you in!" Arya cringed slightly. One of her sister's friends came out of the lot to stand right in front of her. It was the brunette Arya had spotted before performing.

"Your performance was sincere, it was full of real feelings, and that's something you don't see often." Arya shrugged, remembering Melisandre's blank face while she was singing the mix. "As the head of The Barden Bellas, I suggested to think about your performance as an audition, and we decided to let you join our a capella group. Tomorrow in the morning we will have the welcoming ceremony for the new members. See you at 9 AM in the gym!" Margaery smiled and waved goodbye at her, turning around and trotting off, followed by the rest of the group, including Sansa. The younger Stark had to admit that she didn't dislike Margaery at all, even thought she put way too much effort in looking sophisticated.

Arya turned around and almost shrieked when she saw Hot Pie's face just a few inches from hers. She jerked back and would have fallen to the floor if it wasn't for the student standing behind her, who she had bumped with. She apologized and returned to Hot Pie, who was holding a beer can.

"Hi! I saw you up there, it was mind blowing!" Arya laughed at his enthusiastic expression.

"Don't exaggerate or you will increase my ego, dumbass." She nudged him in the ribs, making him squeal. They both cackled afterwards.

"By the way, there's someone I want you to meet," suddenly another boy appeared from the crowd. Arya frowned and narrowed her eyes; she had seen him somewhere else but she couldn't remember where. "Arya, this is Gendry Waters. Gendry,… well, you already know."

They shook hands, but Arya still kept the same expression in her face. Seeing this, he chuckled, and that's when she remembered him; he was the boy that had laughed at her when she had fallen with her butt the day she arrived. Her brow furrowed even more.

"Don't tell me he's your friend…" she said to Hot Pie, who grinned while nodding. "I thought you disliked people who laughed at others." Arya looked again at the taller, much more muscular boy.

_Why is this Gendry guy smirking?_

_… And why doesn't it annoy me?_

Hot Pie took a few steps back. "Well I'll leave you two on your own, try not to kill each other, _capisci_?" he backed out towards the pub's bar. For a brief moment, Arya hated Hot Pie to no end.

"You chose those two songs because of what happened this Monday, right?" he inquired, pointing at her with the hand with which was holding a can of beer identical to Hot Pie's – the other was inside his jeans' pocket. Her eyes widened slightly, and he smirked again while nodding, letting her know she had just proved her theory right.

"Why does so many people know what happened? You aren't even a freshman…" she grumbled grinding her teeth.

"All sophomores have heard about it." He took a sip of beer. "Besides, being Hot Pie's roommate, well I guess I can say I have contacts."

Gendry showed her another crooked smile, and she kept wondering why she didn't feel even a bit annoyed. At that moment, Jaqen passed by her and patted her back, whispering "Well done" and giving her a can of beer. She smiled at him and nodded before facing Gendry again. Arya took a sip of her drink and stared blankly at him.

"I bet everyone thinks I'm a tomboy-ish bitch now." She mumbled, shrugging. The boy chuckled.

"At the contrary. It takes some guts to slap Melisandre Asshai, with her being the chick of the principal's stepson and all that crap."

Arya almost spat her beer all over him.

_Robert certainly didn't seem pissed off by the fact that I slapped his stepson's girlfriend_, she thought. As those words crossed her mind, her eyes wondered through the crowd, suddenly spotting the aforementioned redhead, who was talking to her obnoxiously toady friends. She seemed to spot Arya as well, for she ordered them to wait holding up a hand and started walking towards the young Stark.

"Oh shit." She mumbled, Gendry frowning at her words, ignoring what made her say them. "Shit, shit, shit."

Arya made her way through the crowd towards the emergency exit door as quickly as she could, flashing some glances backwards now and then – she could feel that girl's eyes on her, she could hear her calling her name, probably cursing her, but she didn't stop to face her this time -, after a minute she finally reached the exit. Arya pushed the doors vigorously and stepped outside before closing them again. That exit lead to a dark and deserted alley at the opposite side of the pub's entrance. She bent over, placing her hands on her knees and took a deep breath for the second time in the same evening.

"Okay, what are we doing here?" a voice echoed down the street. Surprised, Arya straightened her back again. "By the way, you can let me go now." It was Gendry. And she was holding his wrist.

* * *

**GENDRY.**

He had 'met' her inappropriately a few days ago, and appropriately just a few minutes before she had grabbed and taken him out of the pub to lead him into an empty alley. Okay, said like this it certainly doesn't sound quite right, but to him, she didn't really seem like a threat. The first time he had seen her, she looked like a child – well, a child dressed with a band t-shirt and ripped shorts - who was throwing a tantrum because someone had witnessed her being a little clumsy. But this time, she certainly didn't look like a child; she wore a three quarter sleeve garnet shirt and a pair of skinny black trousers. And even thought she looked much more mature, Gendry couldn't help but find the expression she had right then rather funny.

"Sorry, I did it out of instinct… Wait, why am I apologizing? It was you who laughed at me when I fell this Monday!" she had clearly felt the need to change the subject in an attempt of self-defense when her cheeks had started blushing.

"What?" he said in a more high-pitched voice. "You're never going to let it go, right?" he was trying to sound annoyed but he really wasn't at all, and somehow she seemed to know it. Arya laughed before leaning her back against the wall.

"I really don't feel like dealing with that bitch right now." She was referring to Melisandre. "Ain't gonna let her ruin my day."

"Are you sure you aren't just scared of her?" he said mockingly as he leaned his back against the wall, just a few inches away from her.

"Am not, stupid!" she declared before taking another sip of beer. Gendry chuckled – he found amusing how easy it was to see through her -, and after few seconds of silence Arya spoke again. "By the way, I don't like liars."

"What?" he looked truly confused.

"You said you were a sophomore, which you certainly aren't." an acknowledging little smile spread across his lips. "I mean, you look like… 23? 22?" he smirked and looked at the floor. "Gotcha."

"But that doesn't mean I lied." Arya frowned, looking puzzled for a moment. "I really am a sophomore. Older than the rest, but still."

"How come…?"

"I guess you could say I took a few years off."

She let it go, but didn't seem really satisfied with the explanation he had given her – which, obviously, wasn't true. Yes, Gendry thought she was really interesting and fun to annoy, but that didn't mean he was going to tell her all about his life just like that. _Maybe someday in the future… _he said to himself. Then, she felt a grip on his shirt's right sleeve and looked down at his side: it was Arya, and she was pointing at the end of the alley. A bunch of boys were walking down the street, some were pushing each other playfully, others just chatting calmly. That was until one of them saw Gendry and Arya and whispered at another's ear, earning his attention for them. He smirked vainly and approached them.

"Gendry." He said as a greeting.

"Joffrey." Gendry greeted back very seriously. He could see the blonde boy looking at Arya for a second before turning his attention to him again, still smirking.

"So you finally found yourself a chick?" he chuckled stealing glances at his friends, who mimicked his laugh.

"I have a name, douchebag." Joffrey looked at her again, realizing the irked expression on her face.

The blonde's friends let go a collective jeer in response to Arya's words. Gendry tried to suppress his satisfied smile, which was showing anyways. Joffrey shifted on his feet uncomfortably, his smirk now gone.

"Well, let us hear it then." His voice sounded much more aggressive the before.

"Arya Stark." She could see Joffrey's eyebrows rising in surprise before he stared at her from head to toe.

"You can't be serious." He said, bursting into laughter. She clenched her fists tightly and Gendry glared at him deadly. The blonde tried to pull himself together again and held up a hand in front of Arya.

"Joffrey Baratheon, nice to meet you." Every word he said sounded faker than the previous one, but she grabbed his hand anyways. He smirked again, this time even more vilely than before. "Maybe someday you'll have the pleasure to be used by me, just like your sister had." He tried to sound seductive or empowered, obviously failing. This time it was his friends' time to burst into laughter.

All of a sudden, Arya's hand shifted to intertwine his fingers with hers, earning shocked looks from everyone.

"Sorry Gendry, but it seems that she prefers m-…"

He shrieked in pain when she pressed her fingertips into his knuckles, bending his hand and making him kneel with both his knees in front of her. His not-so-amused-anymore friends winced in confusion. Gendry's jaw almost dropped to the floor.

"Sorry! I'm sorry! Please let me go!" Joffrey cried out, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

Arya glared at him before she untangled their hands and took a few steps back. Joffrey got up, touching carefully his hand, which was still in pain. He stared a few seconds at his reddened knuckles, then glared at Arya.

"My father will hear about this!" he cried out and turned around, walking away, followed by his bunch of friends.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, leaning against the wall again and taking a bigger sip of beer. Gendry stared at her, completely unaware of the pleased smile he had on his lips. Arya twitched a little bit when she had swallowed the gulp of beer. Afterwards, she sighed.

"Why the hell has my sister such a bad reputation here?"

"How the hell did you do that?" he asked without even answering her question.

"My master Syrio Forel taught me two things: playing the guitar and… beating the crap out of assholes."

**A/N 2: Okay, before anything else, I want to say that I apologize if there's any Melisandre fan between my readers. I don't have anything against her, I just needed someone to be Joffrey's girlfriend and thought that she could fit well, even if I had to "evilize" her a little. Also, I'll cut down most of the lyrics of the songs that will be featured in this fic, because I don't like them looking too long. Next chapter: aca-initiation ceremony and more gendrya chatting...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's the third chapter! I've made some chronological changes on some things that happen in the movie, let me explain: the initiation party won't be the same day as the initiation ceremony. I hope you aren't displeased by this, I just need some other things to happen before the party, and they could never happen in less than one day. Also, I wanted Tyrion to appear somewhere in this history, so I decided that each a capella group from Barden has a tutor. And please, remember that English isn't my first language, therefore there could be some typos. Enjoy!**

**ARYA.**

Never had Arya attended such a strange initiation ceremony before. The new members – including herself – were sitting in wooden chairs while Margaery and Sansa were standing behind a table on which various things were placed: four scarves and a cup. The room was dark, only lighted by a few candles. The Contemporary History teacher, Tyrion Lannister – who, according to what Sansa had explained to her, was the tutor and advisor of the group -, was sitting in a corner, beside one of the candles, reading a book and seemingly totally uninterested by whatever they were doing.

Her sister took the aforementioned cup, walked around the table and stood before Arya, holding it just a few inches away from her face.

"We shall begin by drinking the blood of the sisters that came before you." Margaery said from behind the desk, earning a perplexed look from all the new recruits.

"Dude, no." Arya mumbled while glaring at the redhead with a glimpse of disgust in her expression.

"Don't worry, it's Boone's Farm!" Sansa giggled and Arya took a little sip as she looked at her.

Afterwards, they handed them out one scarf for each new member. Sansa stood by Margaery's side again.

"Now, if you'll place your scarves in your right hand…" the auburn haired Stark demanded, and everyone obeyed.

"I, _sing your name_,…" Margaery instructed.

They took the order; everyone sang their name and Arya could sense that, even if some of them sang out of tune, they definitely had potential.

"… promise to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of a Bella woman..." The brunette continued and they all repeated her words. Arya rolled her eyes. "… and I solemnly promise to never have sexual relations with a Treblemaker or may my vocal cords be ripped out by wolves." Those last lines took them by surprise but they repeated them anyway. "You are all Bellas now."

The other new members screamed excitedly. Sansa looked at her little sister with glossy eyes, whispering a _thank you_ which Arya obviously couldn't hear but understood instantly, answering her with a rare sincere smile.

"Perfect, at last, I can go home." Tyrion stood up, grabbed his book and the chair and left the room.

The ceremony ended and she was talking to her new mates – she had already got to know a few members; a dark haired foreign girl called Shae, a serene and unusually blonde girl called Danaerys (even thought she insisted on being called Danny), yet another redhead called Ygritte and a slim black haired girl called Talisa – when Ros approached her.

"Just a sec…" she said as she dragged her to a corner. Ros sighed, and Arya found this confusing, because she did it at the same time that she was smiling. "I need to ask you a very little favor…" the redhead mimicked her words by bringing closer her thumb and index finger until there was a very small space between them.

"What is it with this campus and all the little favors?" Arya sighed and rolled her eyes but after seeing how Ros was pouting, she tried to smile and hide the slight annoyance she was feeling. "Spit it."

"Look, there's this guy… And we've been together for some time now… And I think it's time to, you know…" at first the little and innocent Stark didn't quite understand what Ros was trying to say, but when she did, she couldn't help blushing slightly and shifting her feet uncomfortably, looking away – it wasn't precisely a topic she was used to talk about – and nodding. "And I told him we could use my room because my roommate wouldn't sleep there tonight…" Arya's eyes widened and she turned to look at her again, not really sure of what she was feeling. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But, you know, it would make me very happy if you could just sleep somewhere else tonight." The dark haired girl sighed again.

"Okay… I guess I don't have any other option anyways."

Ros grinned, showing almost all her teeth, and hugged her tightly before grabbing her mobile phone and trotting out of the room.

* * *

It was 11:30 PM of that same day when Arya got back from work to the dorms. She was very tired because she hadn't been able to stop to rest in all day. Rolling her head with her eyes closed, she was about to open the door when some strange noises came from inside her room.

At first she felt a little bit scared, thinking that someone could have broken into the dorms to steal something – and for a second she was glad she had her guitar with her. But then, she heard a few giggles coming from inside, and three words snapped brutally in her mind.

_The little favor._

Arya leaned her back against the door and let herself drop to the ground. _Great_, she thought, _now where am I supposed to spend the night? Stupid me and stupid Ros who must have a pouting master because her pouts are real quality and effective and stupid me again for being unable to say no. _Her father always said it: that she could be all fierce and violent and stubborn, but that she still had a heart that was too tender for her own good. _Damn it, why does he always have to hit the nail on the head?_

Then she proceeded to think about the possible places where she could sleep. _There's no way I'm going to Sansa's_, she shook her head, _she could force a girl night on me and I'm sure as hell not dealing with that tonight._ She threw her head back and went on thinking, until what seemed like a good idea came to her mind. She searched inside her backpack and grabbed her phone, dialing a number as fast as she could. Arya waited until the phone was answered

"Hey buddy," she said to the person in the other side of the call. "I need to ask you a _little favor_."

* * *

When Arya was going to knock at the door it opened by itself. She stepped inside carefully, looking around for her friend.

"Hot Pie?" she called out from the door frame. A few seconds of silence passed before she heard some steps.

"Hi there, Arry." Hot Pie peeked from another room, greeting Arya with the nickname he had given her that Friday during lunchtime, when he had asked why she had slapped Melisandre and she told him – lied to him – that it was because she had called her a 'tomboy'. "You should close the door if you don't want the teachers realizing there's a female intruder inside a male room." She did as she was told, turned around and closed it silently. "Perfect. Now, if you excuse me, I must continue preparing my midnight snack. Will you want a bit?"

"What is it?"

"A Roquefort cheese sandwich made with wheat bread."

"I think I'm going to pass." She wrinkled her nose, thinking about that cheese's strong flavor. "Thank you thought."

"No problem. By the way, you can put your guitar on my bed, it must be heavy as balls."

She smiled before he disappeared again inside that room. Arya walked towards Hot Pie's bed and placed the instrument carefully over the covers. Afterwards, the sound of an opening door came from the room her friend was in; she turned around in order to talk to him, but when she did, it wasn't precisely Hot Pie who she saw.

It was Gendry Waters. More concretely a wet haired, torso naked, pajama pants wearing Gendry Waters. Arya felt stunned for a long moment contemplating the play of his muscles as he dried his head with a towel, obviously still unaware of her presence. She had seen half naked men in other occasions, but all of them were her brothers or cousins, and it clearly wasn't the same. But Arya felt a little gleam of guilt when she found herself rather enjoying the view, remembering how annoyed she felt when, back at home, Sansa and Jeyne Pole wouldn't stop talking about some guy's abs. _That's not me, that's not me, that's not me_, she repeated on her mind as she shook her head.

"Uhm.., hello?" she mumbled to earn his attention, or more like to make him acknowledge her. He suddenly stopped rubbing the towel against his face and lifted his head, looking at her with an utterly astonished look. Gendry tried to back off but only ended up stepping on one of his shoes and tumbling down. Arya made a few strange noises before she started laughing out loud, throwing her head back.

"W- What the fuck are you doing here?" evidently embarrassed by his little accident, he got up fast and pointed at her, pretending to be serious. "You know these are the boys dorms, don't you?" the very amused Stark had to take a very deep breath in order to get herself together again.

"You don't really want to know, but it involves my roommate… Huh…" she didn't really know how to say it, and Gendry's confused frown didn't help. "… getting laid. That's it." Arya waved a dismissive hand, looking away from him. It was then that he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt.

**GENDRY.**

"Duh, sorry." Gendry opened one of his drawers to get his pajamas shirt. He didn't know if he should feel embarrassed by the whole thing or smirk at how she had reacted – a slight blush in her cheeks and her feet fidgeting nervously. Finally, he found what he was looking for and put it on before turning around. There was a guitar suitcase on Hot Pie's bed. "Is that your guitar?"

"Yup." She answered after looking at it, as if checking that there wasn't any other guitar over that bed. She smiled to herself. "It's called Needle. One of my brothers gave it to me…"

Gendry chuckled at the thought of a guitar having a name. After a few seconds of silence he held up a hand, mimicking for her to wait a bit, then he went to the other room and came back with a bottle of coke. He opened it, took a sip and

"Want some?" Arya shrugged in response, thinking _Why not? _but not saying it out loud,before grabbing it and drinking. After swallowing she returned it to him, who side-eyed her and smirked slyly. "Hey, that was an indirect kiss."

He laughed almost hysterically as she grimaced and hit him fiercely with her feet, even thought she knew it wouldn't hurt him a bit. "Stupid pervert!" she yelled at the boy, which made him lean forward holding his belly, unable to stop cackling like crazy. Arya kicked his ribs and shoot him rolling through the floor; he knocked his head against the bedpost, and it was the little Stark's turn to burst into laughter. She almost couldn't breath, and began kicking the floor with her heels and fists, feeling tears of mirth forming in her eyes as Gendry got on his hands and knees, staring at her while frowning and biting the inside of his cheeks in order to suppress a smile.

"Not funny." He sat down on the same spot he was before. Arya was trying to get herself together again, but those words didn't help at all and she snickered once more. Gendry slapped her head, obviously using the least of his real strength.

A few more minutes of silence passed, but neither of them felt uncomfortable at all. It was strange for Gendry to feel so at ease with someone he had know for only two days, and he guessed it was the same for her. Suddenly, Arya turned around and stood on her knees, took Needle off its case, grabbed it and repositioned herself.

"Wanna hear something?" she asked while caressing the guitar's soundboard just as if it was a pet. He took another sip of coke before answering.

"Can I choose the song?" Arya nodded. "Any song?"

"Well, I don't have a huge repertory but I'll try to fulfill your wishes, sir." She said as she touched carefully the instrument's neck.

"I have no doubt about that, m'lady." He stated mockingly, earning yet another kick from her. "Do you listen to the radio frequently?" she nodded again. "Then, there's this song that they played a few times last week… but I can't remember its name."

"Could you try to sing a line?" he looked dubious, his eyes halfway closed, before he started.

"… _This could be the end of everything_…" Gendry felt a little nervous, for she was staring right at him with those big, bright grey eyes.

"_… So why don't we go somewhere only we know?_" when she saw him nodding and grinning, she shifted her crossed legs and began playing it.

_I walked across an empty land_

_I knew the pathway like the back of my hand_

_I felt the earth beneath my feet_

_Sat by the river and it made me complete_

Gendry started remembering the song's lyrics as she sang every line, until he could join her and start singing as well.

_Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?_

_I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on_

_So tell me when you're gonna let me in_

_I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin_

_I came across a fallen tree_

_I felt the branches of it looking at me_

_Is this the place we used to love?_

_Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?_

They didn't realize that Hot Pie had just come in - with no sandwich in his hands, which meant that he had already eaten it – and was watching them sing from behind their backs, grinning and moving his head to the beat.

_Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?_

_I'm getting old, and I need something to rely on_

_So tell me when you're gonna let me in_

_I'm getting tired, and I need somewhere to begin_

_And if you have a minute, why don't we go_

_Talk about it somewhere only we know?_

_This could be the end of everything_

_So why don't we go?_

_So why don't we go?_

_This could be the end of everything_

_So why don't we go_

_Somewhere only we know?_

Gendry stared at her while she played the few last chords, realizing how peaceful she seemed when she made music.

"It changes." He blurted out without previous thought.

"What?" Arya raised her head with the same bewildered eyes. The boy raised a hand and moved it around his head, pointing at his face, unable to say anything.

"I think he means your face." They heard a voice coming from behind them and almost jumped, completely startled by their friend, who was standing just a few feet from them, leaning against the door frame. "Nice song! I always liked Keane."

"Well, it's not really my style," Gendry nodded towards the posters of Muse, Sum 41, Blink 182 and Green Day between others, all of them covering almost every square centimeter of Gendry's part of the room walls. "but I've got to admit it's catchy… I couldn't take it off my mind."

"Oh shi-…" these words made Arya and Gendry shocked once more. Hot Pie had one hand on his stomach and looked a little pale, his face unreadable. "Excuse me!" he cried out before rushing out of the room and running into the bathroom.

The both of them exchanged a confused look. The boy shrugged and the girl stood up, wandering around the room. He noticed that she stopped in order to pay special attention to his desk, which was covered with a great mess of drawings. Arya pointed at them and looked at him, as if asking for permission; he nodded and she proceeded to grab a few, analyzing them with her deep grey eyes. Somehow, he felt a little exposed.

"Are they all yours?" she allowed herself to say this with a hint of wonder in her voice. Gendry smiled shyly and got up.

"Yup."

"Wait… is this a direwolf?" Gendry could read the excitement in the fast motion of her irises.

"Bingo." He was now standing behind her, peeking above her head – the height difference between them was pretty astonishing. "Why?" she turned around, holding that specific drawing, and looked up at him with brighter eyes than before.

"My family, the Starks… Our house is represented by a direwolf." Arya stared at the paper sheet again, grinning like a little girl. Gendry had to admit to himself that he found that expression of hers quite endearing. "My father used to tell me that, out of all his children, I was the most similar to a wolf, because I was slim, fierce and very quick…" she looked at him again, realizing that he probably didn't care about her family matters, but then felt surprised when she saw a sincere smile on his lips.

"You're a little she-wolf, then."

The little Stark didn't seem to get if he was saying that mockingly or seriously, but just then she spotted a leather jacket hanging from the rack. It wasn't an ordinary jacket; Arya had seen lots of them, but she had never seen one with a patch of a bull sewn on its back.

"I might be a she-wolf, but at least I'm not a stubborn bull." she smirked.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: The fourth chapter is here! Maybe there's not much going on in this one, but there's definitely a good dose of gendrya. And before you start reading, I want to apologize for all the cursing and badmouthing in this chapter… Anyways, enjoy!**

**ARYA.**

A week had passed since she had made two new friends. A blush crept into her cheeks as she realized how happy that made her, how comfortable she felt when she was with them, even when there was nothing to talk about and they just sat in silence, eating during lunch.

Arya had liked Hot Pie since their first encounter, because he didn't seem someone who cared much about what others said about him, just like her. He was cool and laughed sincerely at Arya's comments about Melisandre and company. And, even thought he still called her 'Arry', he obviously didn't judge her for not being feminine; in one occasion he even said that he liked that about her, because it made it easier to talk to her about some things – she figured he meant talking about how his shirts ended up all soaked during summer because he sweated so much it sometimes was scary, how his shirts ended up all stained with tomato sauce during all the other seasons because he _loved_ spaghetti, how he would never ever eat wheat bread again because the first and last time he did, the bathroom couldn't be entered for days. However, he still was a boy and made jokes that annoyed her a bit, in example, the 'most girls only play videogames to look cooler to guys' kind. She still liked him thought, because it had been long ago when she had figured out that all the boys were the same. Nonetheless, it wasn't so long ago when she discovered that she had been wrong.

Only Gendry was different.

He was always calm, almost always silent, and he looked strangely mature when he was. That's why Arya tried to talk to him every now and then, because when he didn't say anything and stared blankly at nothing, she felt very weird. A good weird, thought. But it still scared her a little, that's why she wanted to avoid feeling like that, even if she had to be teased by him whenever she said something he found funny, which happened quite usually. There had been a time when she got so embarrassed by his teasing that she had literally thrown herself at him and they had started wrestling in the floor – it had happened during the lunch break, and the three of them always went to one of the alleys behind the university in order to eat their lunchbox by themselves -, and she had to admit it had felt good, funny, even funnier than the times when she wrestled her brothers. It also made her happy the fact that he didn't seem to care about Arya being a girl when they played like that, and when Hot Pie said those lame comments about girls, Gendry gave him a good smack on the back of his head, looking at him very seriously when he complained. Later, Arya had thanked him for that, knowing that he had done it for her, and Gendry had smirked while waving one dismissive hand, which made her grow annoyed for some reason. "I can't just let it go, my pride won't let me!" she said half angrily. He had chuckled and answered "Okay, then you can do something for me in return." Arya had nodded and crossed her arms, waiting. "Sing for me again, someday." She had obviously agreed.

But, apart from all that, there was something that tickled her; she hadn't been called to the principal's office to be reprimanded – and possibly punished – for what he had done to Joffrey. She chose to forget it.

The next weekend came, and that Saturday afternoon, Sansa reminded her at least ten times that that night there was an initiation party celebrated by all the a capella groups at midnight, after her performance in Valar Morghulis.

The sun went down and she was already getting everything ready. This time she had previously asked Jaqen to lend her his electric guitar, which he did with pleasure. Arya placed the guitar amplifier and the microphone in the center of the stage. For this mix she would also need to play the piano, but seeing as she had no idea about how to do it, she had had to download the track and record it on a CD in order to play it in the pub's speakers, which meant that she couldn't lose a second of timing without messing all the mix up. To be honest, Arya still felt very nervous, she just couldn't get used to play in front of so many people. She grabbed the guitar and stood in front of the mic, scanning the audience with her eyes until she found the icy blues she was looking for.

"Hello everybody and thank you for coming to Valar Morghulis. Today there's special offer; you can get two cocktails of any kind for the price of one." She felt really embarrassed for having to say those things, thought no one seemed to care much. "And before I start my performance, there's something I want to say to someone who is here tonight..." Arya looked at Gendry – who she could find easily between the crowd now – again. "… The wolves keep their promises."

Then, Arya glanced at the guitar for a second and started playing, but when she was confident enough, she raised her eyes and looked into his eyes once more, this time without taking her sight away. Gendry seemed to have recognized those chords instantly, for he was grinning wholeheartedly. The background piano track started playing, and his smile became even bigger, which encouraged Arya to no end.

_Hello there, the angel from my nightmare_

_The shadow in the background of the morgue_

_The unsuspecting victim of darkness in the valley_

_We can live like Jack and Sally if we want_

_Where you can always find me_

_And we'll have Halloween on Christmas_

_And in the night we'll wish this never ends_

_We'll wish this never ends_

_I miss you, I miss you_

_I miss you, I miss you_

_Let him know that you know best_

_'Cause after all, you do know best_

_Try to slip past his defense_

_Without granting innocence_

_Lay down a list of what is wrong_

_The things you've told him all along_

_And pray to God he hears you_

_And I pray to God he hears you_

_Don't waste your time on me you're already_

_The voice inside my head _

_I miss you, I miss you_

_Don't waste your time on me you're already_

_The voice inside my head _

_I miss you, I miss you_

_Hold you in my arms _

_I just wanted to hold _

_You in my arms _

_Far away _

_This ship is taking me far away _

_Far away from the memories _

_Of the people who care if I live or die_

_Don't waste your time on me you're already_

_The voice inside my head _

_I miss you, I miss you_

_Don't waste your time on me you're already_

_The voice inside my head _

_I miss you, I miss you_

_How to save a life,_

_How to save a life_

_I miss you, I miss you_

_I miss you, I miss you_

_I miss you, I miss you_

_I miss you, I miss you_

Arya hadn't taken away her eyes from Gendry's during all the performance – which, by the way, had gone smoothly – and she just realized that when she played the last chords. He was smirking and clapping. The little Stark felt even tinier as she blushed and nodded in gratitude for the audience's cheers.

After playing a few songs more – these being more actual than the ones featured in the mix -, she got out of the stage and gave the guitar back to Jaqen.

"A redheaded girl asked a man to remind a girl that the initiation party is at midnight" he said. Arya sighed in exasperation. _Sansa_, she thought.

"Okay, thank you Jaqen." She smiled at him before heading towards the exit door. Arya glanced at the point where her friensdhad been standing during the performance while she was on her way towards the exit, but he wasn't there anymore.

* * *

The party was launched at the external theatre – _You must be kidding me.._, she thought when she saw the huge stage, which seemed bigger now that it was empty. _A campus with two theaters?_ Arya had never seen anything like that.

The first person she spotted was obviously Sansa. When she realized that her little sister had arrived, she ran towards her without hesitation and grabbed her hand.

"You came! Thank God, I really thought you'd pass and go to sleep…" Arya wrinkled her nose.

"You stink… Have you been drinking?"

"'Course!" she replied naturally and almost happily. "It's a party, Arya! A _University_ party! What did you expect?"

The dark haired Stark rolled her eyes as her sister turned away and ran back to her group of friends – which was basically all the Barden Bellas. Then, someone called her name from behind her. She turned to see Gendry a few feet away, standing between two rows of seats and holding a plastic glass with each one of his hands. Arya approached him, feeling unusually anxious, and he gave her one of the glasses, then titled his head to point inaccurately at the singing, drunken crowd of people.

"This is awesome." Gendry chuckled when he saw Arya narrowing her eyes. "'Kay, not really." He had definitely been drinking as well.

"What are you doing here?" she asked before taking the first sip of her drink. "Isn't this party only for the a capella groups members?" her bull-headed friend frowned.

"Actually, that's what I should be asking." It was her turn to frown. "I've been a member of The Treblemakers since first year."

For a few seconds, her expression was completely blank, but after she had processed what she had just heard, Arya couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"Seriously?" she held a hand in front of her mouth, still unable to imagine him singing in an a capella group. "You're in a _boyband_?"

"Yes, why?" he tried to look offended. "Am I not cool enough?"

"To be honest, I shouldn't be laughing, considering that I'm one of the four new members of The Barden Bellas…" Gendry stared at her, obviously very amused and also unable to imagine her singing in an a capella group.

Once the laughter ceased, they sighed at the same time. Gendry looked at her with a goofy smile on his lips.

"You're one of the a cappella girls. I'm one of those a cappella boys, and we're gonna have aca-children. It's inevitable." He cackled again as Arya's eyebrows rose and she smiled an incredulous smile.

"You're really drunk right now! I don't think you're going to remember any of this." she nudged him, still smiling. "Besides, who said I want to have children with you?"

"I'm not drunk at all. You're just blurry. A very blurry and little she-wolf." Gendry touched Arya's nose mockingly, "And you hurt my pride, m'lady. Why wouldn't you want to?" Arya kicked him in his calves, annoyed by that word he used quite often to tease her, _m'lady_.

"Maybe because you're a very annoying and stubborn bull?"

Suddenly, the little Stark felt someone grabbing her hand. She turned around to see Margaery, who was forcing a smile and switching her glance between them both, her eyes wide and warning.

"Arya," she muttered calmly. "why don't you come with us? It's a great opportunity to get to know better the rest of the group." After stealing a glance at her friend, she nodded and followed her.

Everyone was singing along to the song that was playing on the stereo. All of them were holding bottles, cans or plastic cups and dancing with their hands up in the air. Arya and Margaery joined all the other Bellas, who were already quite drunk as well. She stood between the brunette and her sister, for she still didn't know well any of the rest. A few of the members started whispering and turning their faces around to look behind them before parting in order to let someone walk into the group. It was a very familiar blonde guy with an arrogant smile, but this time just another blonde boy was following him.

"Well, well…" Joffrey looked at Arya from head to toe before glancing at Margaery. "I hate all of you, but I still thought you had better taste for your members. I guess she is here because of her sister's influence, isn't she?" Arya clenched her teeth.

"Don't listen to him, dear," muttered the brunette, still calm as water, her head and back being straight and prominent. "he just says that because he hasn't heard you sing. When he does, he'll fear you like a sheep fears the wolves." The little Stark couldn't help but feel amused by her choice of words. Joffrey glared deadly at her, then looked at Sansa, a cocky expression on his face again.

"I don't fear wolves." He smirked. "And if you don't believe me, you can ask your sister… She knows well what I can _do_ to them." Arya glanced at Sansa and what she saw didn't please her; the redheaded girl was looking at her feet and biting her lip, her fists clenched and trembling.

And Arya couldn't let that go.

She took just a step – a very heavy, loud step – forward, grabbed the blonde's polo shirt, forcing him to bent forward, and looked at him dead in the eye, her own being stormy and fierce as ever.

"Didn't you learn anything at all the last time you saw me?" she yelled at him, making him whimper. "You're just a fucking spoiled brat and a shit of a liar; I could smell your fear from my hometown, asshole. And you know what?" Arya smirked, but not precisely an amused smirk; it was one that made stone out of the blonde boy. "_Fear cuts deeper than swords_." He was trying to break free from her grasp, failing miserably. "And I'll cut you deeper than any of them the next time you touch my balls."

She was beginning to get more and more infuriated and she could start hitting him at any instant, but before that could happen, someone held her by her stomach and pulled her backwards, moving her away from Joffrey. He was fixing his shirt as his friend grabbed his arm and asked him if he was okay. The blonde brat pulled his arm away and glared at Arya, a bit of fright still in his eyes.

"You're just a dirty little hoe!" he cried out as he walked away, still fixing his shirt nervously while fidgeting. "You can do nothing to me, shitty skank!"

Arya growled and tried to pull away from her captor. "Let go!" she shrieked. "I need to smash his fucking head against the fucking floor!"

"Believe me when I say I'd like you to do that," a familiar voice whispered into her ear which, strangely, made her calm down slowly. "but if you did, you'd go to jail. And I don't really want you to go to jail."

"Fuck it!" she clenched her fists once again, almost making herself bleed because of her nails. "I'll destroy him, I promise. I'll make him regret his entire shit of a life, and I'll destroy him in one way or another. This is a promise, Gendry. He better be ware, because… Winter is coming."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry for making you wait! I've been pretty busy lately, lots of things to do! Here's the Riff-Off, I was really looking forward to write this… I'm sorry that half of this chapter are lyrics of songs, but I tried to cut them a bits always! Hope you enjoy it!**

**GENDRY.**

Every day at 7 PM the Barden Bellas held their practices in the gym. Every day the same song – The Sign, by Ace of Base's – played in the background while Margaery and Sansa taught the new members their dance moves. And as always, Gendry waited for his friend outside, leaning against the gym's door or sitting on the floor and occasionally using that hour to do his homework – which is why his handwriting had been getting a little worse, but never mind. Sometimes he would see the Contemporary History teacher, Tyrion, getting out of the room and he would greet him with a nod, to which the man replied with a husky "Good afternoon" after clearing his throat, and when the same track as always started playing again, Tyrion would roll his eyes and leave.

But the wait was totally worth it; when Arya got out of that room, she always looked completely exasperated, fuming and complaining. And he thought that it made her look kind of funny and, although he would never admit it, cute.

"I still don't get why they insist on singing that damn song!" she messed her long hair, clenching her teeth, sitting beside him. "It has come to a point where I can't stop hearing it everywhere I go, even when I try to sleep. What a nightmare." Gendry chuckled before offering her a sandwich, which she took even without knowing what it was made of.

"They've always been like this." He took a sip from his coke can. "Once, they made it to the semi-finals, but they still sang that song and everybody in the audience fell asleep. To be honest, I don't really think you'll be able to do much more if you don't change the song to one more… Up-to-date."

"I know right?" she took an angry bite, pausing for a moment while munching in order to recognize the sandwich's flavor. "Gorgonzola?"

"Yup. Hot Pie. You know, he's madlyin love with cheese sandwiches." Arya nodded in agreement. "By the way, how are you doing with the Riff-Off?"

"Riff-Off?" the question was meant to sound nonchalant, but she was still angry about her mates not wanting to change the song for their performance, so it ended up sounding a little bit irritated. Gendry frowned at her.

"Yes, you know, this Friday night, a battle between all the a capella groups, the tutors choosing the topic the songs have to be about,…" she couldn't look more confused.

"_What?_"

**ARYA.**

She opened her closet seeking for the correct kind of clothes to wear to a singing battle. When she had asked her sister, the redheaded Stark had told her it wasn't a really important event, but because Margaery seemed to be pretty competitive they had to do their best in order to win the Treblemakers… Which, honestly, had never happened before, and wasn't likely to happen this year either. And that made Arya feel even angrier; Joffrey, who was the leader of their rival group, was going to be there. She needed to show him what she was capable of, to make him realize that maybe that year there was really a chance for the Bellas to win the Finals.., To watch him shiver with fear.

Besides, her bull-headed friend was going to be there as well, and if the Bellas won this Riff-Off, it would be a great opportunity to have something to tease him for the rest of his life. _Yup, that would be killing two birds with one stone._

"What are you doing?" asked Ros from her bed, already dressed up, with the iMac on her lap. "You've been, like, a quarter of hour staring at your closet. I'm afraid it won't get any better even if you stare at it ad infinitum, dear." Arya looked at her as her jaw dropped, trying to look offended. The redhead chuckled. "You'll be late if you don't hurry up." She set her laptop aside and got up of her bed, walking towards the little Stark. "Come on, I'll help you."

* * *

Those clothes and make up she was wearing made her feel a little uncomfortable. She had never dressed like this, with leather pants and a leather jacket over an electric blue tank top. But, of course, she had utterly refused to wear heels when Ros had told her she'd lend her one of hers, so Arya wore a pair of night-sky-colored converse. Her hair was styled the same way as always; slightly wavy, falling to her shoulders, without any kind of accessory or decoration. But what frightened her the most was the make-up: Ros had insisted on putting a little of eye-liner on her lids, a thin but long and dark line just above her lashes, which made her eyes look darker. _Damn_, she thought, _I don't know if I'll be able to scare the shit out that blonde idiot looking like this… And Gendry will surely make fun of me on Monday._

To say she was wrong would be an incredible understatement... but that's another matter.

All the Bellas jumped inside the empty pool where the battle was going to take place, the audience sat at the edge, chatting while waiting for it to start, and looking through all those faces Arya spotted Hot Pie, who waved at her with enthusiasm. He was sitting beside a blonde guy she recognized as Lommy – he was also a freshman – and they were both holding a bottle of beer with their hands. There was a lot of people who knew her – mostly because of her first day's "accident" – and that made her feel a bit anxious.

She shook her head and took a deep breath. It wasn't the time to get nervous, so she focused on the people_ inside_ the empty pool. The Treblemakers and the BU Harmonics – another a capella group – were there, her friend and her enemy included. But there was no trace of the High Notes. The group tutors – Tyrion for the Bellas, Petyr Baelish 'Littlefinger' (the Economics teacher) for the Trebles and Varys (the Algebra teacher) for the BU Harmonics – looked confused as they discussed something in a corner. Finally, the three professors approached their respective microphones.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Riff-Off." Announced the bald one. "We are facing a little problem: it seems the High Notes haven't reached the pool yet, and seeing as we should have started five minutes ago, we will take their absence as a withdrawal. The High Notes are disqualified."

The crowd released an unreadable grunt after the announcement. Some of them laughed because everyone knew what the High Notes were doing at the moment; getting _higher_ notes.

"Let's start this battle, then." Littlefinger smirked as he nodded at Tyrion, who also nodded and pointed some kind of flashlight towards the pool's walls. When the light was reflected in the wall, a colorful roulette could be seen.

"We will proceed choosing the subject for the first battle. Remember; the songs must be chained by the same word and must be following the chosen topic, of course." He pressed a button and the roulette began turning. A few seconds afterwards, it stopped. "Cash." He announced.

The tension could have been easily cut with a knife. Every group looked at each other, until one of the members of the BU Harmonics and another of the Trebles started running towards the center of the "stage". The colorful dressed girl got there before the boy, who Arya recognized as Podrick.

Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me

I think they're O.K.

If they don't give me proper credit

I just walk away

It was, obviously, a Madonna song from the eighties. Sansa had warned her about that a capella group's obsession with the blonde singer. The rest of them joined the girl and started singing, still in front of Podrick, who waited for a chance to chain his song.

They can beg and they can plead

But they can't see the light, that's right

'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash

Is always Mister Right, 'cause we are

Living in a material world

And I am a material girl

You know that we are living in a material world

And I am a material girl

Some boys try and some boys lie but

I don't let them play

Only boys who save their pennies

Make my rainy day, 'cause they are

Living in a material world

And I am –

Podrick stepped closer to the group in order to interrupt them.

_– I'm just pumped, just bought some shit from the thrift shop_

_Ice on the fringe, it's so damn frosty_

_The people like, Damn! That's a cold ass honkey._

_Rollin' in, hella deep, headin' to the mezzanine_

_Dressed in all pink, 'cept my gator shoes, those are green_

_Draped in a leopard mink, girls standin' next to me_

_Probably shoulda washed this, smells like R. Kelly's sheets_

_Piss!_

_But shit, it was ninety-nine cents! Bag it, Coppin' it, washin' it_

_'Bout to go and get some compliments_

_Passin' up on those moccasins someone else's been walkin' in them_

_Bummy and grungy, fuck it man, I am stuntin' and flossin' and_

_And savin' my money and I'm hella happy that's a bargain, bitch_

_I'ma take your grandpa's style, I'ma take your grandpa's style_

_No for real ask your grandpa can I have his hand-me-downs? _

_Thank you, Velour jumpsuit and some house slippers_

_Dookie brown leather jacket that I found diggin'_

_They had a broken keyboard, I bought a broken keyboard_

_I bought a skeet blanket, and then I bought a kneeboard_

_Hello, hello, my ace man, my Miller_

_John Wayne ain't got nothing on my fringe game, hell no_

_I could take some Pro Wings, make them cool, sell those_

_The sneaker heads would be like Aw, he got the Velcros_

Everyone knew that song, it had been playing on the radio and every music channel almost on repeat for the past two weeks. The other Treblemakers smiled and ran to their mate, some of them messing his hair when they got to him, as they joined him singing the melody or the song's rhythm.

_I'm gonna pop some tags_

_Only got twenty dollars in my pocket_

_I - I - I'm hunting, looking for a come-up_

_This is fucking awesome_

Arya saw how Margaery held her chin up and composed herself before walking towards the group of boys, ignoring some of them as they showed her rude gestures and flipped her off. She stood before them, both hands folded in front of her lap, waiting for the opportunity to start the song that was on her mind.

_What you know about rockin' a wolf on your noggin?_

_What you knowin' about wearin' a fur fox skin?_

_I'm digging, I'm digging, I'm searching right through that luggage_

_One man's trash, that's another man's come up_

_Thank your granddad for donating that plaid button-up shirt_

_'Cause right now I'm up in her skirt_

_I'm at the Goodwill, you can find me in the_

_I'm that, I'm that sucker searchin' in that section_

_Your grammy, your aunty, your momma, your mammy_

_I'll take those flannel zebra jammies, second-hand, I rock that motherfucker_

_The built-in onesie with the socks on that motherfucker_

_I hit the party and they stop in that motherfucker_

_They be like Oh, that Gucci. That's hella tight_

_I'm like, Yo that's fifty dollars for a T-shirt_

_Limited edition, let's do some simple addition_

_Fifty dollars for a T-shirt, that's just –_

Margaery brushed her hair off her shoulder and signaled for the rest of the Bellas to approach her as she started singing.

– Just stop for a minute and smile

Why is everybody so serious

Acting so damn mysterious

Got shades on your eyes

And your heels so high that you can't even have a good time

Everybody look to their left

Everybody look to their right

Can you feel that yeah

We're paying with love tonight

At last, every member sang the song with Margaery, the crowd clapped their hands together.

It's not about the money money money

We don't need your money money money

We just wanna make the world dance

Forget about the price tag

Ain't about the uh cha-ching cha-ching

Ain't about the yeah b-bling b-bling

Wanna make the world dance

Forget about the price tag.

It's not about the money money money

We don't need your money money money

We just wanna make the world dance

Forget about the price tag

Ain't about the uh cha-ching cha-ching

Ain't about the yeah b-bling b-bling

Wanna make the world dance

Forget about the price tag,

Forget about the price tag.

"Perfect! All the groups pass this round." Varys stated. "Time to choose the next topic." The crowd roared impatiently. "Tyrion, if you please…"

The tiny Lannister narrowed his eyes at the Algebra teacher – he obviously didn't quite like him – before powering the flashlight again. The roulette spinned a few times before stopping. "The end of the world." He read for the groups. The Bellas looked at each other nervously, none of them remembered a song about that, yet.

Joffrey walked with an arrogant smile towards the center of the pool, accompanied by the blonde guy that was with him the night of the welcoming party, who Arya now knew was called Lancel Lannister and was his cousin. Lancel started singing the background rhythm and, once again, everyone recognized the song instantly. The audience started cheering loudly. The other members of the group approached their leader and waited in order to sing the principal melody. Podrick and Gendry helped Lancel with the rhythm. Joffrey tapped his foot against the floor.

_We're leaving together,_

_But still it's farewell_

_And maybe we'll come back,_

_To earth, who can tell?_

_I guess there is no one to blame_

_We're leaving ground_

_Will things ever be the same again?_

_It's the final countdown._

Arya started feeling nervous. Everyone knew the lyrics of that song were unusually short, and if they didn't hurry up they wouldn't get to introduce their song, which they still didn't have prepared. But then, the little dark haired Stark remembered what one of her favorite band's song said and searched for her sister hurriedly.

"Sansa, I've got one!" she whispered to the the redhead, who looked at her confusedly.

"Then why aren't you there? Their song is about to finish!" Sansa replied.

"No, because I want _you_ to run _there_, face Joffrey and sing it to his face." Her sister's blue eyes were overcome with fear at the thought. Arya sighed. "Sansa, I know you and I know that you are no coward, so go there and do what you gotta do." Arya stood on her tiptoes in order to whisper the song's title into her sister's ear. She stared down at her before looking at Joffrey and gulping.

We're heading for Venus and still we stand tall

Cause maybe they've seen us and welcome us all

Sansa made her way through the members and Margaery grabbed her hand and squeezed it sweetly, giving her strength. She walked towards their rivals and stood tall in front of the blonde, who smirked at her and raised his eyebrows cockily.

With so many light years to go and things to be found

I'm –

The blue eyed Stark held a hand a few inches away from Joffrey's face, signaling for him to stop.

_I'm waking up to ash and dust,_

_I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust,_

_I'm breathing in, the chemicals. _

_I'm breaking in, shaping up, checking out on the prison bus._

_This is it, the apocalypse._

Ros, Danny and Arya ran to her side, followed more slowly by the other Stark girl, who sang the rhythm of the song.

_I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones._

_Enough to make my systems blow._

_Welcome to the new age, to the new age._

_Welcome to the new age, to the new age._

_Whoa, whoa, radioactive, radioactive._

_Whoa, whoa, radioactive, radioactive._

All the Treblemakers started to make their way back to their spot, only Gendry looked back to smile at Arya and gave her a thumbs up.

_All systems go, sun hasn't died._

_Deep in my bones, straight from inside._

_I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones._

_Enough to make my systems blow._

_Welcome to the new age, to the new age._

_Welcome to the new age, to the new age._

_Whoa, whoa, radioactive, radioactive._

_Whoa, whoa, radioactive, radioactive._

The song ended and the BU Harmonics hadn't chained it with another one, which meant that they were disqualified.

"There's only two groups left. Let's see what the song will be about…" Varys signaled Tyrion to spin the roulette again, which he did.

"_Femme fatale_." The teacher said. Most of the students looked at each others, totally puzzled. "_Mata Hari?_" He tried to explain what that concept meant with a historical reference but the results were still the same. He rolled his eyes and almost yelled with exasperation. "_Bad girls_, you illiterate oafs!"

Everyone understood it but there was still no response. None of the Treblemakers seemed to know about any song about bad girls, but none of the Bellas seemed to do it either. All the girls got together to give ideas but no one had any. The atmosphere was tense again. Arya rubbed her forehead and paced in circles. _Bad girls.._, she thought. _Bad girls, bad girls, bad girls…_ When she raised her head from her hands the first thing she saw was that bull boy, who had his back to her, but just then he turned his head and stared at her, just as if he had known that she was looking at him. For some reason she didn't know, a shiver ran down her spin as she found his blue eyes, deeper than ever. _Bad girls?_ When the shiver faded into nothing, there was a great idea inside her mind.

Just as she grabbed the ends of Ros's leather jacket sleeves – it was a bit too big for her – she started walking, trying to ignore the fact that everyone's eyes were on her. _Think about it as another performance in the pub_, she told herself in order to keep calm. _Lose yourself in the music as you always do_.

When her feet stopped taking steps she was in front of her friend, looking directly into his eyes with hopes of finding a little of courage in them and stealing it. Arya took the deepest breath she ever had and waved at all the Trebles nonchalantly.

Hello little boys, little toys

We're the dreams you're believing

Crawling up the walls

Running down your face

Razor sharp, razor clean,

Feel the weapon's sensation

On your back,

With loaded guns!

Gendry was staring back at her with a serious expression, his eyes darker than she had ever seen them... She wondered why. Arya started pacing in circles around him, now much more confident as she realized that some people of the crowd was starting to sing along, but without taking her eyes off her friend.

Now hold onto me pretty baby

If you want to fly

I'm gonna melt the fever sugar

Rolling back your eyes

Ros and Ygritte ran to the center and sang along as well, walking around the other members of the Treblemakers, all of them absolutely wordless. Arya dropped her sight off Gendry just for a second to look at Joffrey, who was biting his lips angrily.

We're gonna ride the race cars

We're gonna dance on fire

We're the girls Le Disko

Supersonic overdrive

So what's it gonna take?

Silver shadow believer

Spock rocker with your dirty eyes

It's a chance gonna move

Gonna fuck up your ego

Silly boy gonna make you cry

Now hold onto me pretty baby

If you want to fly

I'm gonna melt the fever sugar

Rolling back your eyes

Arya took a last glance at the bull headed boy, who was smirking seeming very pleased and had his eyes half closed, before she ran towards the other Bellas, reagroupping in the center of the pool.

We're gonna ride the race cars

We're gonna dance on fire

We're the girls le disco

Supersonic overdrive

We're gonna ride the race cars

We're gonna dance on fire

We're the girls le disco

Supersonic overdrive

The little but fierce Stark turned around once again, facing Gendry while all her other mates and the whole audience sang the background rhythm, expecting her to be the only one who sang the next part of the lyrics. She stepped forward again, looking very self-confident. He was still smirking. Margaery looked at them seriously, not liking at all what she was seeing.

If what they say is true,

You're a boy and I'm a girl;

I will never fall in love with you

She saw him chuckling before he went back with her friends, jumping and dancing while singing.

Gonna ride the race cars

We're gonna dance on fire

We're the girls le disco

Supersonic overdrive

Gonna ride the race cars

We're gonna dance on fire

We're the girls le disco

Supersonic overdrive

The song ended and the audience roared louder than ever. The Bellas had a group hug and waved goodbye proudly at the Treblemakers, some of them flipping them off as well.

"Well done," Tyrion congratulated them, looking a little more pleased than usually "seems like this year we've got a valuable new member."

Arya smiled at him before looking at the crowd, still cheering them from the edges of the pool. Then she saw someone she hadn't spotted before; it was Melisandre, and she was looking at the Treblemakers, more concretely at the little Stark's friend, while smirking vainly.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the delay! This chapter may be a little of a filler, I hope you can excuse me for that! I just didn't want to rush things and jump to the Regionals… I preferred to write this chapter in order to analyze the current situation between Arya and Gendry. Hope you enjoy it anyways! And thank you for all the feedback :)**

**GENDRY.**

Telling himself that it didn't matter wasn't effective anymore. He had been lying to himself. What was happening definitely wasn't normal. Every night in his dream that pair of stormy grey eyes intruded in his dreams. That same strong, passionate, fierce gaze stared at him when he fell asleep. He could keep her out of his mind during the day, when he was too busy to think about anything, or when she was around in order for her not to notice how, sometimes, he lost himself in her onyx eyes. But at night, when he sat on his chair, took paper and pencil and rested his elbows on the desk, her face, her voice and her eyes didn't leave his mind for a second.

_Why did she have to look at me like that? _

Being 22, Gendry wasn't a teenager anymore. He could sort it all out without getting stressed. Maybe she had done it just to tease him, maybe she knew they were going to win and was rubbing it in. _But honestly, was it really necessary to do it with that expression on her face? _At that time he hadn't been able to read her face, nor was he able to do it now. Her eyes had been clouded but there had been a little spark of pride in them, her smile crooked, her hand on her hips, walking in circles around him…

The only thing he knew is that seeing that expression every night was going to drive him insane. Without realization, he was holding a pen and drawing in a page of his moleskine sketchbook. And when he finally became aware of what he was doing, he had already drawn that inerasable picture in his head; that serious, almost angry expression she had always on. It was her side profile, her brow furrowed, her lips a bit pursed, her untamed hair running free, a howling direwolf abstractly atop of her head. When he saw what he had done, he threw the pencil and backed off the desk, messing his already messy hair with his hands. Gendry took a deep breath and pulled himself together again before taking a look at it once more.

There was no doubt, it was Arya. In fact, he had to admit that it was one of his best works so far, because it totally reflected her personality. He couldn't help but smile with pride, but it didn't last much, for a second afterwards he was already sighing.

There was something wrong with him. She was his _friend_. In fact, at the moment, she was probably his _best friend _– alongside with Hot Pie, of course. But their relationship was different. Just a few weeks ago they didn't know anything about each other, but as days had passed by, he had started to feel that he could tell her anything. Besides, the two times she had encountered Joffrey and that blonde little shit had talked to her like she was nothing, he had wanted to break all his bones… And Gendry had never felt like that around Hot Pie, not even when Melissandre looked at him with disgust when they walked past her through the school corridors.

Speaking of his short and round friend, he had just entered the room.

"You don't look very well." He said as he put everything he had bought in the grocery store inside their mini-refrigerator, which obviously hadn't been designed to contain all the food Hot Pie was stuffing it with.

Gendry answered him with a growl, rubbing his hands all over his face.

His roommate sat on his bed, his elbows resting on his knees. "Come on, dude. What's bothering you?" He grabbed a chips bag from one of the plastic bags he had brought and opened it.

He couldn't tell him about Arya. _Never_. Because if he did, he would _never_ let it go. Besides, Gendry was afraid he could spit something about it when the three of them were together, and he certainly couldn't let that happen.

"You know, there's this girl…" No names. "Who, for some reason, I can't take her off my mind."

"Do you mean you want to bang her?" His friend said that with a totally blank expression while the bull's face went red.

"NO!" He jumped from the chair almost aggressively, making Hot Pie slightly startled. Then he sat down again, running a hand through his black hair. "What I mean is just that I can't stop thinking about her and I don't even know why." the younger boy sighed and shook his head.

"You, my friend," he pointed at him, "are so fucked."

**ARYA.**

Back in her hometown, Arya had liked boxing. She had the habit of going to the gym at least thrice a week in order to let out all the energy that was trapped inside her – of course Syrio's lessons helped her, but that was just once a week, and it wasn't near enough for her.

But then, since she arrived at Barden, she hadn't needed to go to the gym anymore. She didn't even have time to do it, for she had to practice with the Bellas _everyday of the week._

That specific day, they had cardio: they did some dancing exercises, ran a little bit and so on. Suddenly, Arya heard someone calling her name. It was Tyrion Lannister. When her group mates heard him calling her, everyone looked at each other in confusion, because he never said anything during their practices. Arya gulped, fearing that she had done something wrong and approached him. He mimicked for her to sit by his side. A few seconds of silence passed before he said anything.

"I've been watching you closely." Tyrion confessed while looking at the other Bellas. "You're not like the others." The little Stark gulped again, feeling strangely intimidated by that man.

"Is that good or bad?" she asked weakly, but felt a little relieved when he turned to look at her, smirking comfortably.

"Very good, indeed." He paused before speaking again. "You may have noticed that, even though I'm this a capella group's tutor, I don't really take part in any of its rehearsals, activities nor decision-makings. And you've surely been wondering why." Arya just nodded. "Well, I bet all my Lannister fortune that you've also noticed the monotony in this group's performances," she chuckled and nodded again, "and that's one of the reasons that justify my behavior. At first, I promise I tried to help these kids. I tried to counsel them with my ideas and make something excellent out of them… But they wouldn't listen, no matter what. So at the end, I gave up. 'They can do whatever they please' I thought when I brought a book to a practice lesson for the first time. And here I am now."

"And what has all that to do with me?" after listening to his 'story', Arya felt much more at ease around the tiny man.

"As I said before, you are different from them. Even if any of the others also think that they can't win anything with a performance like the one they're preparing, they won't do anything about it. But you…" Tyrion looked at her again and pointed at her. "You speak your mind, kid. I like that." A wave of pride washed over her for a second. "So please, make sure you do it next time you see or hear something you don't like. Margaery won't give in, but maybe your sister starts to see things as they are. And Sansa is probably the only one who can make Margaery's opinion change." Arya nodded, determination shining in her eyes.

"You've got my word, professor Tyrion."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the delay once more... I'm having some problems with my laptop :( Well, the Regionals are here! Brace yourselves for the upcoming happenings, because the real thing starts here. Enjoy!**

**ARYA.**

After a couple of months of practice, the regionals were coming, and Margaery was stricter than ever. Every move had to be done in synchrony between all the members and executed perfectly. In just a week, they had to polish all the notes and moves into perfection. Also, the cardio exercises were getting harder for them to be in a perfect condition the day of the competition. They had to make it to the semi-finals no matter how, and Arya knew it… but all the members were exhausted. If they didn't slow down, they'll faint when they step into the stage. She remembered Tyrion's words – who was, as always, sitting in a corner with a book between his tiny hands – and stared at him. When the teacher stared back she sighed, for she knew what she had to do.

"Margaery." The little Stark called for the leader, who was stretching, a little far from the other members. The brunette pulled herself together and smiled at her straight away.

"Yes, darling?"

"Look… I know we need to be as much in shape as we can when the regionals come because we need to be selected, and trust me when I say that I really want us to get to the semi-finals _and_ the finals, but…" Margaery tilted her head, suddenly looking more serious. "If we go on like this, they'll be completely sore by the day of the competition!" The leader looked pensive for a few seconds.

"You could be right." Arya smiled proudly at her. "We'll do a few sessions of relaxation… That will also help the girls getting rid of the anxiety pre-competition." The brunette smiled gently and walked away while the dark haired one looked at her teacher again, found him looking back at her and giving her a thumbs up.

* * *

The stage was enormous, bigger than any theatre Arya had seen before. And that made her feel unusually anxious; seeing how lots of people came in and sat down, waiting for the singers, waiting for _her_ to get in the stage and show them what she could do. She felt someone grab her hand, looked up and saw Daenerys, seeming a little bit less nervous than her. Dany's grip gave her a bit of strength, for she had liked that girl a lot since they first talked; she was very kind and honorable, just as much as strong. The blue eyed – well, Arya thought that sometimes her eyes looked more purple than blue – smiled warmly at her.

"Don't worry." She heard a voice whispering behind her. The little Stark turned around and saw Shae and Ros. "The first time the idea of getting in that stage and sing for all this people might seem terrifying, but you can't let that discourage you." The redhead messed her hair a bit. Arya gulped and nodded.

By 9 o'clock, all the rows of seats were full. The lights went off and an almost thunderous voice echoed all over the place.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the sixteenth edition of the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella!" Jaime and Cersei Lannister were the commentators of the competition, and both were Tyrion's siblings as well.

"This year The Sockapellas will have the pleasure of opening the show! Please get in the stage!" said the blonde woman.

After a few other groups performed, it was the Bellas time. They were behind the curtains, making sure that their dresses – stewardesses' uniforms – didn't have a single wrinkle. When the commentators called for them, the girls moved towards the centre of the stage and positioned themselves. Arya felt her heart pounding against her chest.

"And here we have the Bellas one more year, trying so hard to accomplish nothing." Stated Cersei with cruelty.

"To be honest, I'm starting to feel a little of pity for them!" Jaime sighed.

Margary grabbed the Bellas' whistle and made it sound, counted to three and started the song.

_I got a new life_

_You'd hardly recognize me_

_I'm so glad_

_How could a person_

_Like me care for you?_

_Why do I bother when you're_

_Not the one for me?_

_Is enough, enough!_

"And, as expected, it's the same boring song as always." Commented the Lannister man, "If they changed their performance every now and then, maybe not everyone of the room would fall asleep."

_I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes_

_And I am happy now living without you_

_I've left you all alone_

_I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes_

_I saw the sign_

_I saw the sign_

_I saw the sign_

Roslin Frey, Dany and Arya sang the background rhythm during the transition between that song and the next one; it became slower and sweeter. Margaery passed the microphone to Sansa, who sang the principal melody.

_Close your eyes_

_Give me your hand, darling_

_Do you feel my heart beating?_

_Do you understand?_

_Do you feel the same?_

_Am I only dreaming?_

_Or is this burning_

_An eternal flame?_

_Say my name_

_Sun shines through the rain_

_A whole life so lonely_

_Then you come and ease the pain,_

_I don't want to lose this feeling_

_Is this burning_

_An eternal flame?_

The background rhythm became faster once more when the song changed.

_Turn it around,_

_Turn it around,_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it around!_

Everyone was aligned in a row before they took a step back, parting it into two. Ros walked firmly – but with style – across the path the other girls had made for her.

_Turn the beat around_

_Love to hear percussion_

_Turn it upside down_

_Love to hear percussion_

This part was a new addition to the previous Bellas' performance; Margaery had said that it may be necessary to put a bit of energy into the show in order to please the audience. And it did please the audience, for quite a few people started clapping along the song, but it wasn't because of the song itself: it was because of Ros, who ignored Margaery's murderous glances and danced wildly, often taking another of the girls from their positions to dance with her.

_Turn the beat around_

_Love to hear percussion_

_Turn it upside down_

_Love to hear it_

_Love to hear it_

_Love to hear percussion!_

_Turn it around,_

_Turn it around,_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it around_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it-_

_Turn it around!_

The song ended and most of the crowd clapped with enthusiasm, which gave Arya a bit of hope. Maybe they could make it at least to the semi-finals with that monotone performance.

"And now with the last entry, the Treblemakers!" said Cersei with much more enthusiasm than when she introduced the other groups.

"Let's see what the absolute favorites of the audience have to show us this year." Jaime also seemed more interested than before. Arya looked at Tyrion for a moment and saw him face-palming himself at the obvious favoritism.

All the members were atop of the stage now, also positioned. Podrick, Lancel and Ramsay Snow started singing the background rhythm as Joffrey stepped in front of everyone else, as always.

_Like the legend of the phoenix_

_All ends with beginnings_

_What keeps the planet spinning_

_The force of love beginning_

_We've come too far to give up who we are_

_So let's raise the bar and our cups to the stars_

Lancel joined Joffrey and they both sang back-to-back, causing almost all the girls in the audience to melt into nothing and Arya to almost vomit.

_She's up all night 'til the sun_

_I'm up all night to get some_

_She's up all night for good fun_

_I'm up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night 'til the sun_

_We're up all night to get some_

_We're up all night for good fun_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

Suddenly all the lights were gone, surprising everyone in the crowd. Just for a moment, Arya thought that it had been a technical failure, but then a voice – seemingly a child's one – echoed echoed all over the stage.

_La la, la la la la la la la la la la,_

_La la la la, la la la la la la la la la la,_

_La la, la la la la la la la la la la,_

_La la la la, la la la la la la la la la la._

Everyone recognized the song instantly, and almost every person in the audience started cheering, whistling or clapping. Then the lights went on again, and all the Treblemakers had just jumped and were up in the air.

_I'm covering my ears like a kid_

_When your words mean nothing, I go la la la_

_I'm turning off the volume when you speak_

_Cause if my heart can't stop it, I find a way to block it_

_I go…_

_We're up all night 'til the sun_

_We're up all night to get some_

_We're up all night for good fun_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

_We're up all night to get lucky_

Podrick stepped in front of all the other members and started imitating a kid's voice.

_La la, la la la la la la la la la la,_

_La la la la, la la la la la la la la la la,_

_La la, la la la la la la la la la la,_

_La la la la, la la la la la la la la la la._

The song ended and everyone cheered for them like crazy. Arya looked at Margaery, whose face looked confident, but whose fists were clenched like never before.

* * *

"Time to give the awards!." Announced Jaime Lannister. "Remember that only the two winners will be selected for the semi-finals."

"As always, the jury has had difficulties to choose only two between all those talented a capella groups, and the results have been very tight." Cersei was clearly reading a script and everyone knew that what she was saying wasn't what she really thought.

"The judges have chosen as the second place winner…" Sansa grabbed Arya's arm tightly. "The Barden Bellas!"

They looked at each other, smiling and proud of their accomplishment. Margaery didn't look completely happy, because she was obviously aiming for the first place, but at least she looked pleased. All the members stepped on the stage again and their leader received the award from the representer of the jury.

"And, for the first place, they've chosen…" the crowd started cheering again, for everyone knew who had won in the first place. "The Treblemakers!"

Arya looked at the group; all the members were celebrating it warmly except Joffrey, who was looking at her and mouthing 'Loser'. She ignored him, thinking that sooner or later he'd get what he deserved. Then she looked at Gendry, who was also staring at her, but he looked away promptly. Suddenly, Arya's good mood was gone.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Things are getting heated, guys. This chapter has been very difficult to write – I wanted to make it special -, mostly because of the description of the dances moves. I did my best and I hope you like it! Enjoy!**

**GENDRY.**

It had been quite difficult for him to address Arya the few next days. Whenever she looked at her, all he saw was the memory of that night and all the questions that it had awoken in his mind. But thankfully, as days went on and their routine was established again, everything returned to normal… Or so he thought.

The Bellas were practicing in the gym once again. He had heard that their leader, Margaery Tyrell, had gotten a bit angry because they didn't perform the exactly same thing they had been rehearsing – Arya had been ranting about it for half an hour a few days ago. And there he was again, leaning against the wall and waiting for his little friend. As usually, the first person who exited the gym when the clock hit six was Tyrion, who nodded at him as a greeting and walked out almost running. All the members got out of there one by one, Arya being the last of them.

"Seriously, I can't believe this!" she cried out at him, which startled Gendry a bit. "We know all the dance moves, we know the lyrics way too perfectly, we can do all the performance without a single mistake, and she still makes us practice it over and over again!" she buffed and hit the wall with her back before sliding down to the floor looking exasperated.

"Well then I expect you to finish us like Hot Pie finishes a cheesecake." He chuckled before sitting next to her, handing her a bottle of water which she accepted gladly.

"Trust me.., not with that song." Arya furrowed her eyebrow as she took a sip of water. "Talking about songs… I still haven't heard you singing properly. I mean, every time the Treblemakers perform, no offense intended, but you're always in the background." He laughed again, nodding in understanding.

"Don't worry, it's just that Joffrey doesn't really like me, as you may have already noticed." Gendry grabbed the bottle and took a sip as well before clearing his throat. "And he's the leader, so that's it."

"But, why does he dislike you so much?" she titled her head with confusion. "I mean, yes, he's a complete brat, but he has to at least appreciate someone's existence, right? Or have at least one reason to hate someone… Am I wrong?"

The blue eyed boy gulped. He looked at her eyes and saw innocence. Innocence and loyalty and honor and, basically, he saw her. That was when he realized that it was time for her to know. The only thing he hoped is that she wouldn't judge him for being who he was.

"Well," he started nervously, "considering that I am his stepfather's bastard, I think it's pretty normal."

Arya Stark had never looked more astonished. At first her face seemed blank, but as seconds passed by, realization of what he had just said washed over her, and her eyes went wide as her mouth opened. It took her a minute to react.

"_What?_" she almost couldn't find the words she wanted to say. "You're Joffrey's stepbrother? Robert's son?!"

"Robert's bastard." He corrected. "That fat douche was married when he had it away with my mom." Arya was silent for a few seconds.

"I see… But you said your last name was Waters…"

"I lied. Don't want everyone knowing about my things, you know." He simply shrugged.

"And Joffrey hasn't told every single person in this planet yet?" she looked quite surprised.

"No. You see, even thought dad is such an arrogant and narcissistic bitch, he still likes me. He does since the day I paid him a visit after my mother's death."

"I'm sorry." Arya looked at the floor for a bit.

"Don't be." He messed her hair up, trying to get it off of her head. She looked up at him and smiled. "We were so poor, I couldn't even afford to go to the University. But then I beat Robert up, and at first he got very angry, but after a few days he sent some of his men to look for me and told me that he liked me and that he had decided that he'd rise me. He wasn't married anymore and didn't have any other children, and he was very rich, so I wasn't a problem. I started University the same year he got married with Cersei Lannister." Gendry explained.

Everything was becoming clearer for Arya. That's why he had missed three years of school. That's why she wasn't punished for what she did to Joffrey that night after her first performance in the pub.

"Well, now you know everything. I'd rather stop talking about this." He stated and she nodded in response. The blue eyed boy searched into his pockets until he got his phone. "You said you haven't heard me sing properly, right?"

* * *

**ARYA.**

Gendry approached the speakers and searched behind them, between all the wires. Arya seemed a bit confused.

"But why do we need to be in the gym?" she crossed her arms. "You don't need all this space just to sing, stupid."

He chuckled. At last, he found the wire he was looking for and connected it to his phone. Then, he scrolled down the playlist of songs, looking for a specific one. His face beamed up when he found it and pressed play.

"Have I never told you that I can also dance?" Gendry's brow was furrowed but a proud and slightly crooked smile was spreading across his face, his eyes more vivid than ever before. "And I'm actually quite good at it."

Arya muttered a "_Seriously?_" with an expression that flickered between disbelief about his words and his cockiness, when the song started. At first she couldn't quite remember which song was it, but after a few seconds she did; it was _The Other Side_, by Jason Derulo.

_In the beginning_

_I never thought it would be you_

_When we were chillin'_

_Smiling in the photo booth_

_But we got closer_

_Soon you were eating off my spoon_

_You're coming over_

_And we would talk all afternoon_

His voice was deep and just very different from Derulo's, but somehow it made the song sound even sexier. At first his moves were a bit slow, they seemed almost lazy. His hands ran over his torso with grace, like two snakes playing with each other. When the 'photo booth' part came, he traced a perfect square across the air, pretending to spin it afterwards and pushing it away. His legs shifted and he made a 360 degree turn easily, raising his hands – which's palms were facing the floor – and swinging his feet over the floor smoothly. Gendry stretched his arm at the side and started making a robotic wave that travelled all over his body, his face always serious and confident at the same time; he ended that move bending both of his knees and throwing the top of his body backwards while standing of his tiptoes. The chorus was coming soon and he approached Arya slowly, grazing the floor with the tip of his feet.

_Tonight we'll just get drunk_

_Disturb the peace_

_Find your hands all over me_

_And then you'll bite your lip_

_Whisper and say, 'We're going all the way'_

Arya was shaking her head like crazy, mouthing 'no' over and over, but smiling at simultaneously. Gendry mimicked her while singing and grabbing her hands, dragging her towards the center of the gym. She tried to back away, pressing her feet against the floor in the opposite direction, but when the last line in that verse came, he took her by her hips and raised her up in the air.

_Tonight, take me to the other side_

_Sparks fly like the Fourth of July_

_Just take me to the other side_

_I see that sexy look in your eyes_

_And I know, we ain't friends anymore_

_If we walk down this road_

_We'll be lovers for sure_

_So tonight kiss me like it's do or die_

_And take me to the other side_

He had spun her around a few times before putting her down again. Gendry took her hand and extended her arm, running his face very close – Arya had felt the tip of his nose brushing it a few times – all over it, then he put a hand in her hip again – without letting go her hand – and pulled her closer, their faces just a few inches from each other's while singing the '_kiss me like it's do or die_' line. Taking advantage of the grip he had on her hand, she made her spin over her vertical edge.

_This could be perfect_

_But we won't know unless we try_

_I know you're nervous_

_So just sit back and let me drive_

_Tonight we'll just get drunk_

_Disturb the peace_

_Find your hands all over me_

_And then you'll bite your lip_

_Whisper and say, 'We're going all the way'_

When she stopped spinning, he wrapped her hips with an arm and leaned all her body diagonally to the ground, supporting her back with his bent leg. Just as before, he stared right into her eyes while singing, and Arya noticed a strange feeling in her stomach. In fact, she remembered feeling it as well the night of the Riff-Off, when she was walking in circles around him and he looked at his feet, a crooked smile in his lips. And now, she couldn't help staring at them, hoping he wouldn't realize – and he didn't, for he was too busy staring at _her_ lips as well. Gendry helped her standing again, lifting her from that position using his arm and pressing their bodies together. Because of their height difference, only her toes were touching the floor.

_Tonight, take me to the other side_

_Sparks fly like the Fourth of July _

_Just take me to the other side_

_I see that sexy look in your eyes_

_And I know, we ain't friends anymore_

_If we walk down this road_

_We'll be lovers for sho_

_So tonight kiss me like it's do or die_

_And take me to the other side_

_Take me to the other side_

_And take me to the other side_

_Kiss me like it's do or die_

_And take me to the other side_

The song came to its end and they didn't know how they had ended up like they were; Arya had her legs wrapped around Gendry's hips and he had pinned her against a wall, his hands at both sides of her body and her arms around his neck. They were both breathing heavily, both of them staring at each other's eyes, which were much darker and half closed. It took them a couple of seconds to realize what had happened; Gendry was the first.

"S-Sorry." He mumbled nervously, his face becoming redder as he let her down. "Um, got a little carried away." The blue eyed boy couldn't look at her face, so he was just staring at his sneakers.

"Same." She stated, also flushing, even though she still couldn't understand why her heart was beating so fast and why she had felt disappointed when their bodies broke apart from each other.

Arya glanced at him but he wouldn't met her eyes nor look at her. He turned and walked towards her sports bag, rubbing his face with his hands before running one of them through his hair. Then he took the bottle and threw some water over himself before taking a sip.

"Do you have a towel here?" Gendry asked while pointing at her bag.

"Yup." She replied casually.


End file.
